Pequot War

The Pequot War (July 1636-September 1638) was a war between the Native American Pequot tribe and the New Englander colonists. The murder of English settlers by the Pequot and their allies led to Governor Henry Vane sending John Endecott to exact revenge on the Indians of Block Island. The Massachusetts Bay Colony militia burned the villages on the island to the ground, and they either stole or burned the natives' crops. The Pequots retaliated by besieging Fort Saybrook during the winter, and the Connecticut river towns raised a militia under John Mason to, alongside Mohegan warriors under Uncas, assist the English.

In the predawn hours of 26 May 1637, Captains John Mason and John Underhill, along with their Mohegan and Narragansett allies, surrounded the fortified Pequot village at Mystic, and the English set fire to the village. The conflagration trapped and killed the majority of the Pequots, and only a handful of the village's 500 residents survived the "Mystic massacre", with 7 being captured and 7 escaping. The Narragansett were alienated by the English colonists' brutality, but they were ambushed by the Pequots while attempting to leave, leading to the Narragansett continuing their alliance with the English. The Pequot ultimately decided to abandon their villages and flee westward to seek refuge with the Mohawk tribe, but the Mohawk murdered Sassacus and his bodyguard and sent his head and hands to Hartford. This ended the war, with the Pequot survivors joining the Mohegan and Narragansett tribes; other Pequots were enslaved and sent to the Caribbean.